A Midsummer's Nightmare
by John2
Summary: Set after the end of the 3rd season(the Annie episodes) After a year, Fi is finally about to be reunited with her mother, when, by accident, she frees the Will O' Wisp, who possesses her aunt! Not complete (It's gonna be long!)


Fiona Phillips, or Fi, sat in the Seattle home of her aunt, Melinda, typing on her laptop.  She was online, of course, reading an E-mail from Annie Thelan, the girl who had taken her place in more ways than one.  Fi had long brown hair, which she was wearing up today.  She was a little short for her age, sixteen, but something about her radiated strength and confidence.  She didn't have many friends at school, she was only here for the school year anyway, and her bizarre interest made her seem weird.  But she was never looked down upon.  It was that internal strength and confidence that told people that she wasn't just some paranoid psycho, but an intelligent, strong willed young woman.  She was pretty as well, which didn't hurt.

Fi glanced at the calendar on the wall of the guest room, or her room, as long as she stayed here.  It was late May, and only a few days until the end of the school year and the long awaited reunion with her family.  Her mother, the famous singer, Molly Phillips, was on tour now.  Fi had toured with her mom, for the past few years, living on the bus and various hotels, all across the USA, with only the occasional trip to their home in Hope Springs, Colorado.  She'd had plenty of company: her older brother, Jack, Ned Bell, the head roadie and tutor, his wife, Irene, Molly's agent and Clu and Carey, Ned and Irene's two sons.  Clu was the younger, and Jack's best friend.  Carey played guitar for the band, after dropping out of college, which, of course, his parents weren't too happy about.  But they'd accepted it a long time ago, or at least that's how it seemed to Fi.  And of course, she was never alone with the memory of her deceased father, Rick.

            A musician, Rick had died when Fi was very young.  Fi smiled.  How ironic: two parents with musical talent and she inherited her father's most unusual trait.  And that trait was an obsessive interest in the paranormal.  Over the years that Fi had been on tour, she had witnessed many strange things, which, for the most part, had either tried to kill her or at least get her in serious trouble.  But the danger wasn't the worst part.  Oh no, the thing that held _that_ honor was that Fi was surrounded by non-believers.  Mostly Jack, and Molly to a lesser degree.  She could usually get Clu or Carey to go along with her on some of her adventurers.  In fact, she had even gotten Jack to come a few times.  Believer or not, Jack was a good brother; protective, brave.  And, sometimes, that was a bad thing.  But none of that mattered.  Fi was no longer connected to the paranormal, after losing the Celtic engraving on a ring that had belonged to her father.  

Actually, it had originally belonged to her maternal great-grand mother, Fiona O'Shannon.  She had been, or at least it was hinted that she had been, a witch.  In any case, she had given Molly and Rick the rings on their wedding day, and it was that ring that allowed Fi and her father to be connected to the spirit world, and all things paranormal.  Her mother still had her ring, but Fi wasn't sure exactly what it did.  Maybe it made her closer to the wearer.  That would explain how her mother and father had gotten through the marital problems that had arose after Rick became interested in the paranormal.  Fi had been very young when her father died, but she knew that he had left one night, on the verge of discovering something very big, something called the Truth.  He had been driving when the evil forces of the spirit world had pulled his spirit from his body before it was time for him to die.  To everyone else, it looked as though he'd died in a car crash.  She'd found out about this, or at least the fact that her father had died before the crash, from Tony Martinez, the fireman who had pulled Rick's body from the wrecked car.  But that was another story.  She had been told everything in full from the ghost of her father himself, after he saved her from an evil spirit.

Anyway, she had inherited her father's ring, and thus, became linked to the world of the supernatural, as he had been.  But after a long ordeal, the engraving on the ring had disappeared, largely in part to a spell Fi had read from an ancient Celtic spell book, which her aunt Melinda had given her a few years ago, right at the beginning of her paranormal investigation.  She had given the ring to Annie, and the engraving had immediately returned.  It was then that Fi had decided to leave the tour, and her paranormal investigations, and spend the school year in Seattle with aunt Melinda.  But, oh well.  She missed the thrill, and even without the ring, she still had an extreme interest in the paranormal.  She still regularly updated her "So Weird" website, and received E-mails from Annie about her paranormal experiences.  But it was good to have a normal life, at least she didn't have to worry about being turned into a vegetable by a troll, or having her family and friends possessed by a Will 'O Wisp.  Speaking of Will O' Wisps…

Fi got up ad checked to make sure aunt Melinda and her two daughters, Miranda and Maggie (AKA the Twin Tornadoes and Fi's biggest fans) were still out at the supermarket.  Once she was sure, she reached into the pocket of her laptop's bag, and pulled out a floppy disk.  It looked like any disk, but no other disk on Earth had what this one did.  Trapped inside this disk was a Will O' Wisp who Fi had encountered three times.  It was he that had revealed small details about her father's demise to her, as well as possessing Jack and her mother, and tricking Fi into separating herself from the spirit world.  The Will O' Wisp, or Spunkie (which was the same thing, but he preferred to be called a Spunkie) had at one time been under her power.  She had known his one, true name, but removing herself from the spirit world, removing the graving from the ring, had also removed his name from her mind.  She remembered every detail of the three encounters, but there was a hole every time she said his name in a memory.  But now he was under her power again, in a way, trapped inside the disk.  

There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, questions about what her father had been searching for, what the Truth was, and why they had killed him.  But she knew he would escape if she did, and no one in her life would be safe with him on the loose.  She popped the disk into the disk drive, and then pulled up her file manager.  She was doing he weekly check to make sure he was still in there.  She opened up the Drive A folder and, yes, there it was.  A file entitled "spunkie.nx" which seemed to take up no disk space.  The ".nx" at the end was what interested Fi.  It wasn't a normal file, of course.  Maybe, if she saved a file as ".nx" she could create a spirit, or a portal to the spirit world?  She had never dared to try it.  

Fi closed the file manager and continued to read Annie's newest E-mail.  Apparently, some strange device had made everyone forget she existed.  Fi wasn't sure what to classify that under.  Maybe "Strange Artifacts?"  So far, the only things she had under that category were the OOPA and that piece of machinery from the Roswell crash…

The lock on the front door clicked, it opened, and Miranda and Maggie, the Twin Tornadoes, burst in.

"Fi!  Fi!  Fi!"  They both shouted simultaneously, stampeding into her room.

"Fi!  Mom said we can go and watch her rehearse!' Miranda said.  Aunt Melinda was an actress, and always working on one show or another for her local theatre group.  

"Okay," Fi said.  Then she smiled mischeviously.  "Maybe we'll find another dragon!"

Miranda and Maggie exchanged nervous smiles.  They still fearfully remembered the dragon that Fi had summoned from the Celtic magic book a few years ago, during a rehearsal of _MacBeth_, in which Melinda was a witch.  The dragon had almost eaten Fi and her two cousins, but an armored clad Jack, who thought the dragon was a costume or robot of some sort, rescued them.  Again, another long, complicated story.

"I'll be there in a second, just let me save something…" Fi said.  She copied Annie's E-mail onto a Word document so that she could read it later.  She went up to save and typed in the name "letter26."  She was just about to save when she noticed that she was about to save it on the A Drive, on the Will ' Wisp's disk.  She quickly changed to the C Drive and saved it there.

"Fi!  Come on!"  Aunt Melinda called.  

Fi stood up, and hurried out to the car.

"What play are you doing, again?" Fi asked Melinda as she sat down on the vinyl-clad passenger seat.

"_A Midsummer Night's Dream_.  It's another Shakespeare play.  You'll like it!  It's full of fairies and sprites and all that sort of stuff."

Fi laughed.  "Cool."

As the car pulled away, something stirred inside Fi's laptop.  If she had been there, she would have heard the low giggle that came from the speakers…

* * *

"…The secret to love

The secret to love

The secret to love is not Origami!"  

Molly Phillips finished the song, "Origami," and bowed to the wild applause of the audience, sending a wave of brown hair the catch and reflect the glaring stage lights.  Behind her was the rest of the Molly Phillips Band: Judy, Phoenix, Chuck, Kristen, and Ned and Irene's oldest son, Carey.  She was performing in a large theatre in Georgia, on tour as usual.  She had been here before, when she'd still been in the PKB- the Phillips-Kane Band- with her husband, Rick, and their friend, the British guitar sensation, John Kane.  The theatre had changed since 1986, and so had Molly.  

The last time she'd come here, there weren't all f these strobe lights and smoke generators, and her husband was alive and John Kane was still able to play the guitar.  But Molly had learned long ago to accept the cruelties of life.  Her husband was dead, killed in a car crash.  John Kane was unable to play the guitar, after receiving a heart transplant that had serious effects on his sanity.  His signature Union Jack- emblazoned guitar sat in his home, collecting dust.    Butt oh well.  "_From dust you came, and from dust you shall return_…"  That was the quote, right?  From the Bible?  Molly wasn't sure.  After Rick's death she had sort of lost touch with faith or religion of any kind.  But she had a busy life, and enough to worry about already.  

The audience began to chant: "Encore!  Encore!"

Molly looked over at Carey, who nodded in agreement.  Judy, Pheonix and Kristen did the same.  Chuck, who hated it when the audience did this, just sort of shrugged and picked up his drumsticks again.

"Okay, you want one more?"  Molly said into the microphone.  The applause was deafening.  Molly smiled, turned her head away from the mike and said: "In the Darkness."  The music started up and Molly began to sing:

"Demons come from every side,

_In the darkness is the light._

Pullin' me on a downward slide,

_In the darkness is the light._

Gettin' hot the deeper I go,

_In the darkness is the light._

Into the fires down below!

_In the darkness is the light_…"

Backstage, Molly's son, Jack, and her temporary "daughter" Annie Thelan watched the concert.  Jack was tall, with black hair and a half smile on his face, like he was enjoying himself, but that he also had a sense of seriousness and responsibility around him.  Around his next her wore a golden necklace, with and angel pendant at the end.  His girlfriend had given it to him; he guessed that was the right term for what she was to him, a farm girl named Gabe Crawford.  

Annie was Jack's polar opposite; it wasn't hard to tell that the two weren't really brother and sister, even though many people made that assumption.  Annie was all blonde hair and big smiles.  She literally burst with energy.  She was the sort of person who could walk into a room and immediately draw all attention to her.  Not that she was always showing off; to the contrary, Annie was a very pleasant girl, the sort of person you could be around for hours and never get bored.  Annie had been on tour with the Molly Phillips Band for the school year, the same amount of time that Fi was in Seattle. Her parents were in Pakistan, but in a few short days she'd reunite with them, and then it would be off to Mongolia, on another archaeological dig.  Annie would miss Molly and Jack and everyone on the tour, but she really was anxious to see her parents again.  She rubbed a finger over the engraved ring Fi had given her.  She did this often, because, for some strange reason, it seemed to give her strength.

Jack noticed her feeling the ring.  "Thinking about home?"  He asked.

Annie smiled sheepishly.  "Yeah.  I can't wait to see my mom and dad."

"I'm thinking about Fi." Jack said.  He grinned.  "No offense, you're a fine temporary sister, but I really miss my real one."

Annie returned the grin.  "I know what you mean.  I've had a lot of fun with you and Molly, but I'll feel the happiness when I'm with my mom and dad again.

Just then, Jack's best friend, Clu, came up behind them.  Clu was tall, thing, and had shaggy, dirty blonde hair.  He was currently attending college at Santa Cruz, but his summer break had begun this week, and so he had immediately joined the tour.  His mother, father and brother were glad to have him back.

"Hey, dude.  Hey, Annie.  Does this concert rock or _what_?" Clu exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's pretty good." Jack said, lost in his thoughts.

"Yeah," Annie agreed, also in her own world.  Clu raised an eyebrow, and then turned back to watch the concert.

"…But I come out on the other side 

Of Paradise!

Oh yeah Paradise!

Yeah, yeah

My Paradise

Is here with you

Is here with you, baby

Paradise!

Paradise!

Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah

Paradise!"

Molly bowed again and the band hurried offstage.  Clu greeted his older brother Carey as he came backstage.

"Awesome job bro!" Clu said, giving Carey a high five.

"I gotta admit, I think this was the best show we've done in a while." Carey said.

"Yeah, since you're usually so humble after the other shows."  Jack said.  They all laughed.  Molly came over and joined the group.

"Hey, kids.  How'd we do?" She said, putting her arms around Jack and Annie.

"You were great, mom!" Jack said, returning the hug.

"Yeah, Molly, you were terrific!"  Annie added.

"Well, now that I've gotten the opinions of my two favorite critics, it's time for me to get cleaned up."  Molly said.

"Hey, mom?  What time are we leaving tonight?"  Jack asked.  That night they were going to leave, so that they could reach Seattle the day after next.  

"As soon as we're all packed," Molly said.  She looked as impatient as Jack felt.  It was obvious that she missed her daughter.

"I think your mom misses Fi more than you do." Annie said to Jack, after Molly had gone.  

"Yeah,"  Jack said, distracted.  "I wonder how she's doing…"

* * *

It was late when Fi, Melinda, Miranda and Maggie got home.  Rehearsal had been longer than usual, and afterwards they had gone out to dinner.  There had been a little bit of trouble, when Miranda and Maggie had gotten into a fight over who got to it next to Fi in the restaurant.  It had been resolved, though, and all through the night, the Twin Tornadoes plagued Fi with questions about the paranormal.

"And how about unicorns?  Have you ever seen any unicorns?" Maggie asked, tugging on Fi's sleeve for attention.

"Nope.  Not yet at least." She answered with a smile.

"And what's the thing mom's playing in the play.  A, um, a…"

"A Puck." Fi said.  "It's a type of fairy.  Their very mischievous and they like to play pranks on people."

"Well then, it looks like I've been living with two Pucks all this time and I didn't even know it!" Aunt Melinda said, getting her two daughters in a tickle-hug.

"And now, it's time for my little Pucks to go to bed!" She said.

"No, mom!" Miranda cried.

"We wanna stay up and talk to Fi!" Maggie chimed in.

Fi stepped in.  "I'm gonna go to bed anyway.  I'll tell you two some more stories in the morning, okay?"

"Okay!  Goodnight Fi!"  Miranda and Maggie said, simultaneously again.

Fi smiled to herself as she went into her room and started to get ready for bed.  After an entire school year of living with her, her cousins _still_ weren't tired of the stories of her paranormal exploits.  She had even had to make some up, just to satisfy them!

As Fi climbed into bed, she thought about her mother.  She hadn't seen Molly since last Thanksgiving, and the only time before that was when she went to their house in Hope Springs one more time before they sold it, to say goodbye.  She wondered how Molly and Jack and Clu and Carey and Annie and everyone were doing now…  And Fi was soon fast asleep.

* * *

Later that night, Fi woke up to go to the bathroom and found that, no matter how tired she felt, she just couldn't get to sleep.  And so, she decided to finish reading Annie's letter.  Fi went over to her laptop, which was still on from before.  She opened the file manager and hovered her mouse over the name she had saved the letter under: "letter26."

And because she was so groggy from having woken up, she didn't notice the ".nx" at the end until it was too late.


End file.
